Project Kuiper: Amazon’s Internet satellites will transmit data with lasers (like Starlink)
Amazon, which launched its first Project Kuiper Internet satellites in October, says it will use space lasers to provide reliable broadband coverage even in the middle of the ocean.
This technology will enable the satellite to deliver data to the cruise ship even if the spacecraft is out of range of Amazon’s Internet-connected ground station. Instead, the laser will transmit a request to another satellite that has a clear view of the ground station, Bloomberg reports. Two prototype satellites have successfully tested the technology, which is officially called optical inter-satellite communication.
If you’re going to serve maritime or airborne customers, you need to be able to transmit data to your satellites. And in the middle of the ocean, it is difficult, if not impossible, to install ground stations
– Rajiv Badial, Head of Project Kuiper.
Amazon hopes to eventually operate a constellation of 3,236 satellites. The company plans to start testing the network with customers sometime in the second half of 2024. According to Amazon, its prototypes transmit data at 100 Gbps over a distance of almost 1,000 kilometers.
